Nathalie The thread used for that lace is obviously very fine, but Brenda is right, almost impossible to say from a photo.
That lace is a bobbin lace with Mechlin ground, from the period 1800 - 1820. If you study the picture closely you will see tiny little white lines in the ground which run parallel to the footside. That is how you distinguish Mechlin ground from point ground. The small length of the repeat (the design repeats itself over a short distance) and the spotting on the ground are typical of Napoleonic era laces, which makes them relatively easy to date. On my website you can see other photos of this type of lace. http://lynxlace.com/bobbinlacenapoleonic.html http://lynxlace.com/bobbinlacerevivalerastraight.html In this one, go about 3/4 of the way down the page and look for item #114. It is a more recent Mechlin than your piece, but the photo is better and you can see the little white lines parallel to the footside in better magnification. All the photos are thumbnails, so you have to click on them to see the full detail. I don't know anything about the history of knitting, but I have never heard that knitting was invented as a way of imitating bobbin or needle lace. It is my uneducated impression that it developped as a practical solution to the practical problem of socks. There are many other forms of lace which developped as an effort to imitate bobbin lace or needle lace. Crochet styles and methods developped for those reasons. But I have not heard that said of knitting. Lorelei - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
